Memorial Day

“On thy grave the rain shall fall from the eyes of a mighty nation!” – Thomas William Parsons

Dear Coworker

If I'm not part of this department when you are planning parties, then don't be hooting and hollering about how I am part of this department when the boss is chewing you out for playing on your phone all day.

While you were over there pitching your little hissy fit, the boss was telling me, "Why should I tell you anything?  You're doing your work."

That's what you don't seem to get.  I'm not the pet because the boss just likes me.  The boss likes me because I work.  Maybe you should try it sometime.

Thank you.

That is all.

A Day Of Good

Good news!  Cody does not have strep.  His fever broke a couple of days ago, and his throat wasn't hurting any more.  He decided to go to the doctor anyway to find out why he's been feeling so bad lately.  The doctor gave him a clean bill of health, and said he is probably suffering from anxiety.  He wrote Cody a prescription for anxiety meds, but Cody didn't fill it.  He said he wanted to ask me what I thought first.

That's how you know your children are growing up.  You suddenly get smart again.

Anyway, I told him to try some natural methods of dealing with anxiety first.  Cut back on the sugar and caffeine, get regular exercise, drink chamomile tea and get plenty of sleep.  If that doesn't help, he can always get the prescription filled in a few weeks.

The better news is, he got a job!!  He will be working as a radiation technician assistant at St Dominic's Hospital there in Jackson.  It's a full time job, starting at $10.00 per hour.  I have a feeling that a steady income will do a lot towards relieving his anxiety.  And his mother's.  

I went to the store after work and bought some buttons for Baby Brooklyn's dress.  I keep wanting to call her Baby Brittani, because I called Brittani that for so long.  But now Brit is all grown up and having a baby of her own.  *Sniff...where does the time go?

We have a two day weekend for Memorial Day, and that is my goal for the weekend.  To get Brooklyn's dress finished, wrapped up, and ready to mail.

Lookit!  I've got a gardenia bloom!

I've got several more buds just about to open, too.  I'm worried, though, because the leaves are turning yellow and dying.  I've fertilized them with something specifically for gardenias, and I'm adding coffee grounds to the soil every couple of weeks, but nothing seems to be helping.  I've researched and found that too much fiddling with them will do them more harm than good, so I'm trying to leave them alone for now.  I'm hoping this may just be transplant shock or something.

I've also read that too much water can cause this, and we have had a very, very wet spring this year.  Maybe when the soil dries out a bit, they'll perk up.

I'm trying not to worry too much.  If they die, they die.  I'll spend the rest of the summer improving the soil -- mainly digging all the rocks out and mixing garden soil or potting soil into it.  But there's plenty of earthworms there, so the soil can't be too bad.

Now, I need something to relieve my anxiety.

My Flowers

What with all the knitting and baby dresses here lately, I've been remiss in showing you my flowers.  I realized it's been a while, so here I am to rectify that post haste.

First up, a gardenia bud:

I can't wait for them to bloom.  I love the smell of gardenias.

My little flower bed is really coming on.

I'm really liking these angelonias.  I wonder that I didn't buy them before.  I think they'll be a regular addition to my annual bed from now on.

Vinca bloom.  I'm iffy about these.  I kind of like them, but kind of don't.  Eh, that's why I deal in annuals.  I'm not locked in to a long term commitment.  If I don't like something, then I can get something else next year.

Another reason I deal in annuals:

It appears one of my dianthus has died.  The others seem to be hanging in there, though only one still has blooms.

If they come back next year, good.  If they don't, I won't cry too much over them.

My roses, on the other hand, are doing very well.

I need to get out and deadhead them.  Maybe this weekend I can get out and do that.

Look at this:

This is one of the clearance marigolds.  I thought it was going to die.  Seriously, it was down to a leaf and a half.  See those little white things?  That's slug killer.  Since I started putting it down, this little plant has rebounded in a big way.  I think it a couple more weeks, it'll be blooming like the others.

Finally, I can't remember if I showed you the thrift shop pitcher after I planted an impatiens in it, so here it is:

And that's about it for today.

Almost Finished!

I'm almost finished with the baby dress.  Now, I just need to seam the back and add buttons.

Cody contacted me last night.  He thought he might have strep, and wanted to go to the doctor.  When I got home from work, I asked him what the doctor said, but he couldn't get an appointment until Wednesday.  But, he said his fever had broken, so it might not be strep after all.  So, that's good.

Some sad news, LSU mascot Mike VI has been diagnosed with a very rare and serious cancer.

First Bevo, now Mike.  It's been a tough year for college mascots.

Thor's Day Mayhem

I went to work expecting the typical Thor's Day mayhem.  It always seems to fall on Thursdays, doesn't it?  Legend has it that Loki -- the Norse god of mischief -- is jealous of Thor and tries to ruin things.  And Thor's day seems to be the perfect day for that.

However, today seemed as if it were going to be very non mayhemic.  Everything was going swimmingly....until about 10:00.  Then I noticed a smell.  A bad smell.  It got so bad that my coworkers were turning around asking me if I were burning something up.

No, it isn't me.  It smells like a motor burning.  That's when I saw it.  Thick black smoke billowing out of my fan motor.  Then came the screaming and the running.  OK, not really.  No screaming and no running.

I simply did what any former active duty Electronics Technician Third Class Petty Officer would do.  I unplugged the fan and called maintenance.  Soon, the maintenance man came and brought me a nice, shiny new fan.  Then he plugged it in and all the dust on it flew into my face, and I spent the rest of the day looking like a dalmatian.

Speaking of mayhem, for some reason the cat has decided she needs to start marking her territory.  On my new furniture.  I don't know why.  She's never peed on the furniture before.  Well, there was that one time on the bed, but that was on the dog's stinky blanket, so it doesn't count.

She pees on dirty laundry, bathroom rugs, and door mats, but never on the furniture.  But now, she's peeing on the couch.  I tried several different things to keep her from doing it, but eventually, I had to resort to the dreaded plastic sofa cover.

One for the chair, too.

Yes, the cushion is out of the chair.  It's airing.

I was at the store, and wandered down the clearance aisle.  There I saw it, and set of flannel sheets on clearance.

Yes, they have fishermen on them, but when the lights are out, who is going to know?

I bought a new hanging plant.

And baby Brooklyn's dress is moving right along.

Maybe I can finish by the weekend.  Then I'll have to find my button box and see what buttons I can come up with.  That's going to be the real challenge.


Eh, maybe I'll just buy some.

Such A Nerd

I am such a nerd.

A history nerd, that is.

I'd put that Scott's Turf Builder on my front yard a week or so ago.  I was reading up to try to find out how soon I could spread the grass seed I'd bought.  My mental conversation went something like this:

Hmmm, OK, it says you can reseed 30 days after applying the weed killer...soooo, that would make it June 6.  Ah!  D-Day!  I can reseed on D-Day.  So, I guess D-Day is d-day."

Then I laughed uproariously as if I'd said something terribly witty and clever instead of something not..um..witty and clever.

Ahem, moving right along.


Saturday was a totally psycho day at work.  We'd only been there about an hour when a fight broke out.  They took those two people up to the office and calmed them down.  The dust had barely settled from that fight, when another one broke out, this time between a girl and her boyfriend.  They got those two separated, when the girl tried to pick a fight with another girl,  "What are you looking at?  You got something to say?"

As if that weren't enough, we started running out of things.  First this part, then that part, then another part.  By this time, we were looking around asking each other if we'd gotten our dates mixed up.  "I thought yesterday was Friday the 13th!"  Finally, they decided to just cut their losses and send everyone home.

So, yay.  But then I had to go to the store, were I broke my self imposed moratorium on buying yarn.  I'd made it almost three years.  But, see, we have a little girl coming into the family in July and I wanted to knit something for her.  I perused my stash, but nothing leapt out and grabbed me.  

At the store, wandering down the yarn aisle, this did leap out and grab me.

I picked up two skeins of it, thinking I'd make a blanket.  However, I thought better of that, since most new mothers get more baby blankets than they know what to do with.    Besides, this baby will be born in the summer, in the land of air made of hot soup.   She won't really need a blanket. On to plan B.  A baby dress.  A lacy, frilly baby dress.  But not too lacy or frilly.

I did an online pattern search and came up with this little gem.  You can get the pattern here:  Lazy Daisy Baby Dress.

It is knit flat, then you seam the skirt up to the button band.  I'm thinking if I ever make another one, I might try joining it and knitting in the round after I do the bodice part.  Step one:  find circular needles.

Lest you think I've forgotten my little cross stitch ornaments, I haven't.

Yes, that is painter's tape I used to keep the edges from fraying.  I have some masking tape around here somewhere.  That's the key word:  somewhere.  Oh well, it'll turn up, most likely right after I've bought a new roll.

Isn't that the way it goes?

Dear Coworker

No, I really don't need to smell your safety glasses.

Seriously, I don't...need..to smell...your safety glasses.   So, would you be so kind as to stop shoving them under my nose?

Thank you.

That is all.

Mulching Day

Yes, it took a while, but at long last, today was mulching day.  First thing I had to do was go buy mulch.  Since I had to go get milk anyway -- story of my life--I picked up four bags of pine bark mulch while I was there.  As soon as I got home, I put some around my gardenias.   They were looking pretty sad, and I was getting worried about them.

I'd gotten some of that weed barrier fabric stuff, so I put a piece of that around each gardenia, and spread the mulch over that.  It's been so hot and muggy today that by the time I was done with that, I was absolutely drenched in sweat.  I came inside and cooled off a bit before doing my other bed.

Once the sweat had somewhat dried, I went back out and spread more mulch in my little front bed. Look, my marigolds are blooming!

These are the ones I bought on clearance for half price.  I'm not sure why they were marked down, but they are doing just fine.

Even the tiny one that I though was going to die seems to be making a comeback.  Oh, and I checked on my gardenias before going back inside.  It had just been a couple of hours, but they already seem to have perked up a bit.

As if I didn't have enough going on, I bought these:

I'd been admiring them in the Herrschner's catalog for years now.  I thought they'd make perfect Christmas gifts for my brother and sister in law, since they're both musicians.  You know they say to wait 30 days, but I'd been wanting them for along longer than that.  Last week, I saw them in the newest catalog and thought, "What the heck, I'm getting them."  Now, the trick is to actually get them done before Christmas.  It's already May.  I'd better get cracking.

Finally, these are going to be for my bathroom -- eventually.

Now that my flower beds are mostly set for this year, I might have time to get started on them.

If I can stay off of Facebook, that is.

Roses

I knew what kind of a day it was going to be when I woke up in a blind panic because I couldn't remember the words to The Raven.  You know, the poem by Edgar Allen Poe.

Sometimes I wonder what my brain does when I'm asleep.  It seems to go on its own little adventures without taking me along.

Where was I?  Oh, yeah, I woke up in a blind panic because I couldn't remember the words to The Raven.  Then I had to go to work.   And the day just went down hill from there.

I'll spare you the gory details, but let's just say it wasn't pretty.  So, here is something that is:

My roses.

Graduation Day

I posted most of my photos in my Facebook album, but picked out a few to share here, too.

Anyway, here we go.  The cap and gown picture:

Straightening his cap:

The commencement speaker:  He threw oranges at the audience.

Singing a hymn:

Cody singing:

A blurry picture of Cody receiving his degree:

Proud Mama moment:

Now, it's on to seminary in the fall.

Busy Day

Cody is graduating from Mississippi College tomorrow morning.  In order to get Saturday off, plant policy dictates that you take a vacation day on Friday.  Not only that, your vacation request must be submitted before they announce the overtime schedule.   Now, I was perfectly willing to work today, but I had to take it to get tomorrow and not blow my perfect attendance and the monthly cash bonus that comes with it.

Since I had to take today off to get tomorrow off, I made the most of it.  I briefly thought of sleeping in, but I didn't want to mess up my sleep patterns, since I have to be on the road at the crack of dawn in the morning.  Graduation starts at 10:00, but Cody told me to get there between 8:00 and 8:30 to get a seat.  I'll be leaving here about the same time I leave for work, because it's a two (ish) hour drive depending on traffic.

I woke up at my usual 4:30, but just laid in bed for another 30 or so minutes.   Alas, my bladder wouldn't let me lie in longer than that.  I got up, relieved said bladder, made some coffee, refilled said bladder, and tackled the day ahead.  First thing I did was get out before the dew dried and spread some Scott's Turf Builder Weed & Feed on my front yard with my new little broadcast spreader.

It was pretty chilly when I got up, so after rinsing off my spreader in the back yard, I put it away and went inside to warm up with a cup of coffee and an episode of Property Brothers.  I was sitting there when I caught a movement out of the corner of my eye.  It was Jesse walking by my front door.  I'd forgotten to close the back gate after rinsing the spreader.

Fortunately, Jesse is a good dog and came right to me when I called.  I put him in the house, then went out and closed the gate.  Rylea was still in the back yard.  She'd never gotten out, and that's a good thing, because she doesn't come when I call.  Hard head.

I had a bunch of old clothes I was wanting to get rid of, so I went into town to take them to the thrift store that supports the local battered women's shelter.  Unfortunately for them, no one was there. That's why said clothes have been riding around in my car for several months.  It's so hard to catch that place open.  Even though I really wanted to donate to them, I wanted to get rid of those clothes even more, so I drove them down to the other thrift shop on the south side of town.  Since I was there anyway, I looked around a bit and found a few treasures.

I love this pitcher.  It was only $1, so I grabbed it up right away.

It has some melted wax in the bottom, like someone had tried to make a candle out of it.  I'm going to make a planter out of it, and put it on the baker's rack on my front porch.

I'm going to use this little bowl as decoration.  It was also only $1.

I think it will look really good on one of those easel things on my entertainment center.

Finally, the piece di resistance:  real Corning Ware and only $4.

I didn't have one in this size, so it will be a welcome addition, when my others are just a bit too big.

In other news, I had to rework the ant moat on my hummingbird feeder, because despite it's claims to the contrary, the caulk I used is not, in fact, waterproof.

After sitting in the water for a day or two, the caulk softened and water began leaking out.  I took it down and used hot glue instead.  So far, so good.  While I was in the store yesterday, I sprang for another feeder, this one with a built in ant moat.

Now, I'm just waiting for the hummingbirds to find them.  I've seen a couple, but it's still a bit early in the year.

And I bought a hanging pot with a petunia.  I had to swap places with one of my humming bird feeders, because this plant wasn't getting enough light where it was before.

The last thing on the agenda, I was determined to get my gardenias planted.

Now, I don't know what the previous owner was thinking, but every single place I've tried to put in a flower bed, I've had to dig past rocks.  Her love affair with rocks is matched only by her love affair with monkey grass.  This was no exception.  By the time I planted the third one, I was considering running out and buying a pickax with which to dig the hole.  Nevertheless, I persevered and got them all planted.

I had some potting soil and worm castings (from when I tried to grow my own fish bait), so I filled the holes with that instead of the rocky soil.  I hope that they grow.  I think that if the roots can make it past that layer of rocks, they'll do OK.

I've been saving my used coffee grounds and putting them into a jar filled with water.  I put some of that into my watering can and watered them really well.  Maybe that'll help them.  All three are covered in buds, and I can't wait for them to bloom.  I love the smell of gardenias.

I did a lot more stuff today, but I really don't think you want to hear about laundry, caulking my living room window, and de-peeing the couch.

Just when I was wanting another kitten, I remember why I don't get one.  

Squeaky says, "I don't know what you're talking about.  I'm an absolute angel."

It Wasn't Even Thor's Day

I walked into total mayhem at the plant, and it wasn't even Thor's Day.

The shift we aren't allowed to hold accountable for anything had left the place a disaster area.  There were parts in bins without a work order, so I had to figure out what those were.  There were orders that had been skipped, so I had to go back and pick those up.  There were scrap parts everywhere that should have been taken out, and jigs that hadn't been put away...I told Group Leader Theresa it looked like a tornado hit the front of our line.

As if that weren't bad enough, there was not a scrap of ice in either ice machine.  Yeah, nothing is so refreshing on a hot day than tepid water and warm Dr Pepper.  To top it all off, I've lost my wrist brace, so the carpal tunnel is really acting up.

I had to go into town after work to pay a couple of bills.  The plan was to go get some mulch and spread it in my newest flower bed.  However, after the day I had, I was so tired that I decided the plants would live a few more days without mulch.

The only thing I accomplished was to get my humming bird feeder with home made ant moat filled and hung.

Maybe tomorrow will be better.

Birds!!!

I was sitting there in my chair Saturday afternoon.  It had been raining off and on all day.  I wanted to do a little bit of work outside, so I got up to check and see if it were still raining.  Much to my surprise, I found a pair of indigo buntings in my drive way.

I managed to get a half way decent picture of them before someone drove down the road and scared them off.

 Even better, I saw one of them in my back yard Sunday morning.  I'm thinking they might be nesting somewhere in the area.  I hope so.  Indigo buntings are one of my favorite birds.

Speaking of birds, when I was planting my marigolds Thursday, I got buzzed by a hummingbird.  I quickly filled and hung my feeders, but alas, within a few hours, the ants had found them.  Drat.  I did a bit of research online and found several suggestions on how to deal with them.  Some of them were to smear Vaseline on the hanger, or wrap the feeder with duct tape, sticky side out.  I was afraid these might be harmful to hummingbirds, so I decided the best way to deal with them was to add an ant moat to my feeder.  Instead of ordering one online and waiting for it to arrive, I MacGuyvered my own from the bottom of a water bottle.

I cut off the last few inches, smoothed the edges with a hot iron, and put some caulking around the hanger to seal it.  When the caulk sets, I'll fill the moat with water and hang it.  The ants crawl down the wire and drown in the moat, leaving the nectar pure for the birds.

I'm still working on getting all the plants I bought planted.  I finally got most of my impatiens into these window boxes.  I have two like this

and this smaller one.

I put a fresh coat of paint on the baker's rack Beverly gave me, but because it has rained so much, I wanted to give it an extra day to dry before I put it out.  Probably not necessary, but what would it hurt?

I still have a few impatiens I need to plant, but I've run out of planters.

I'm going to try to come up with something unconventional.  My next door neighbor had planted some plants in old boots, and it was really cute.  I want to come up with something like that.  It makes me wish I hadn't thrown out my old work boots.

Finally, if you've been reading my blog, you'll know I've been waiting with baited breath for my roses to start blooming.  I'd said they were going to explode with color when they finally opened.  Well, guess what greeted me when I got home from work today?

Yep, and absolute explosion of color.

That's not even half the buds opened.

The good news is, I found that they bloom on new growth, so this fall, I can really cut them back and clean them up.  If I get some of the thicker clumps thinned out, they ought to really bloom well next year.

Now, I need to get the gardenias planted, and that's all I'm going to do for this year.  Well, except for mulching everything, that is.